The gas pump and meat aisle are handy gauges for inflation. But the black asphalt flowing out of Steve Hall's trucks onto U.S. 12 near Long Lake is a pungent reminder consumers are hardly alone in inflation's grip.

Soaring costs for fuel and other construction materials are walloping contractors nationally, and a brewing problem with some asphalt supplies is only the latest example.

Refinery asphalt prices nationally have risen more than 40 percent since March, government statistics show. Hall's paving company, Hardrives Inc., of Rogers, was already reeling from this budgetary pothole when its main asphalt supplier announced it couldn't supply the high-grade asphalt he contracted for. Coming in the middle of the 2008 road-paving season, it's a problem for the Minnesota Department of Transportation, too.

"I've never seen it this tough," said Hall, who also is chairman of the Associated General Contractors of Minnesota. "As an industry, it's going to be very difficult to keep our head above water."